Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Many were concerned when Boston Red Sox player Stephen Drew rode the bench for most the games since rejoining the team after sitting out the first two months of the season on free agency. On Monday, the Red Sox faced Bud Norris and the Baltimore Orioles, Drew is a career .462 hitter in 17 plate appearances against Norris, yet he still sat the bench. Jonathan Herrera started at short-stop in his place and Xander Bogaerts played third-base.

It was later announced that Drew had been benched because of an right oblique strain. He is on the day-to-day DL. Red Sox assistant general manager Brian O'Halloran told The Boston Globe:

"I can understand the timing of it, with the losing streak and all, why people would talk about it. But I think over time our fans will see, as they did last year, that Stephen will help us win games and makes us a better team."

Drew out with an oblique strain. Day to day. ... Buchholz starts rehab assignment with Pawtucket on Friday. #redsox
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 9, 2014

Drew has played in four games and has made 16 plate appearances this season. He is batting .263/.328/.433 over nine total Major League seasons. He has struggled in his last three seasons, hopefully after he recovers he can work on turning things around. This injury does not appear to be serious at all, Drew will be back in a matter of no time.